The VAR Guy

Astaro, the Unified Threat Management company we’ve come to know over the past few months, is looking to beef up it’s channel strategy. For 2010 Astaro is looking is to implement some new growth strategies and they’re feeling pretty optimistic. Here’s the run down…

Here’s the short story: Open-Xchange, providers of the namesake line of open source-based collaboration tools, now offers a dedicated e-mail appliance. The long story is that it’s a major play by a company that’s proving that open-source doesn’t have to mean unprofitable. Here’s the story.

An interesting story has been floating around the ‘net about an unfortunate Linux user and his Best Buy experience. If you’re a Linux aficionado and looking for something to rage about, read on. This one’s a doozie.

Dear Firefox: It’s not me, it’s you. Our courtship began a little over four years ago when I realized that I was doing myself a disservice by limiting myself to the slow and bare-bones Microsoft Internet Explorer. There was a whole new world of open source for me to discover, and I thought I’d be happy installing extensions and opening tabs forever. After the last couple of releases, though, our relationship turned sour, and yesterday I had to break it off. Here’s what I hope the open source community learns from my unluckiness in love.

Open source appliance maker Vyatta has unveiled the 3500 networking appliance family, which combines routing, firewall and VPN functionality.  Vyatta claims the appliance offers 10 Gbps networking capability at 1/20th the cost other ‘name-brand’ networking appliances. But are solutions providers and their customers really ready for open source network?

In today’s episode, Fonality CEO Chris Lyman discusses Asterisk, open source, the IP PBX market and Fonality’s partner strategy. More specifically, The VAR Guy Live: Podcast covers the following five key topics…

 

 Fonality CEO On Asterisk, Open Source and IP PBXes for VARs [11:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Which open source companies are truly committed to VARs, solutions providers and managed service providers? You’ll find out in December when The VAR Guy unveils The Open Source 50: the top companies — from across the world — building the open source channel. To potentially have your company listed in The Open Source 50 report, fill out this quick survey.

Repeat after The VAR Guy: Old software strategies — developed in the 1980s and 1990s — DO work in the emerging IT channel for open source solutions. Skeptical? Here are 250 ways Red Hat successfully pushed beyond Linux to promote open source middleware to customers.

Open source operating systems, applications and middleware continue to disrupt and infiltrate the IT channel. But which open source companies are truly committed to VARs, solutions providers and managed service providers? You’ll find out in December when The VAR Guy unveils The Open 50: the top companies — from across the world — building the open source channel.

The VAR Guy has spent the last two years evangelizing software as a service (SaaS) and open source as a killer combination that VARs need to master. But now Trip Chowdhry from Global Equities Research says SaaS and open source companies will suffer greatly amid the economic turmoil. Here are Chowdhry’s perspectives and The VAR Guy’s observations.

The VAR Guy thought Red Hat Exchange — an online store the software company launched last year — would be an overnight hit. It wasn’t. But after some tinkering, Red Hat Exchange (RHX) seems to be taking off — and giving partners like MySQL and Zimbra a lift as well. In fact, the site’s bookings doubled in Red Hat’s most recent quarter, The VAR Guy has learned. Here’s how Red Hat got RHX on track.

Perhaps it’s time for The VAR Guy to eat more crow. A few days ago, he said that the Wall Street financial crisis would even hurt open source companies. But The Open Road blog, penned by Matt Asay, claims that open source companies are actually accelerating their growth during these stressful times. Take a look at Asay’s analysis. Then feel free to bash The VAR Guy.

Kudos, Red Hat: You beat financial estimates for your current quarter. Wall Street was impressed. And customers are falling all over each other to sign long-term business deals with you. Still, The VAR Guy was disappointed will one key data point you shared this week.

Barton George, one of the best-known open source evangelists at Sun Microsystems, has left the company. He sent a note to a group of sources — including The VAR Guy — on Sept. 5 indicating that he’s joining a cloud-based computing company in Austin, Texas. Kudos to George, but The VAR Guy has to wonder: Are things growing worse at Sun?

Sometimes, small deals are big indicators about where companies are heading next. Cisco’s $215 million acquisition of PostPath, for instance, speaks volumes about where John Chambers is taking the networking giant. Some folks say it’s a direct attack against Microsoft Exchange. The VAR Guy claims otherwise.

CompTIA Breakaway, held in Orlando, Florida, this week, was a successful conference for hundreds of VARs and managed service providers. Foolishly, open source companies that need channel strategies skipped the show. Here’s why The VAR Guy was alarmed.

Linux redefined pricing in the operating system market. Now, Zmanda hopes to apply those same open source pricing pressures in the backup market. Zmanda claims that its backup system costs one-fifth to one-tenth as much as alternatives from Symantec and EMC. But is open source backup — at any price — ready for the enterprise?

Open source companies are finally getting on their feet in the IT channel, The VAR Guy believes. In fact, companies like Digium, GroundWork Open Source, Openbravo and Untangle are following Red Hat and Novell into the IT channel — on a global basis. Here’s a look at their progress.

So, how high will Red Hat’s partner sales climb this year? The VAR Guy spoke with Red Hat VP Mark Enzweiler on June 9, noted some facts and figures, and then did some quick math. Take a look at the results.

The VAR Guy picked up the phone and dialed Sun Microsystems Inc.’s investor relations department. When the call went to voicemail, he left this message: “Are the rumors true? Is Sun seeking to replace CEO Jonathan Schwartz?” Here’s more on the rumor, and The VAR Guy’s depressing reaction to it.

One innovation is easy. But sustainable innovation — building lots of worthwhile new things again and again, even as you maintain your old products — is challenging. The VAR Guy wonders: Is open source the key to sustainable tech innovation? Is open source the best way to keep a maturing company feeling vibrant and young? Before you answer, consider some of these scenarios.

Matt Asay, author of The Open  Road blog, is telling the world how Macs are replacing PCs at corporate meetings. But that’s not all, Asay notes. Check out this photo from the Missouri School of Journalism. Look at all those Macs. The Kids Are All Right! So, what does all this mean for Microsoft?

When Red Hat kicks off its big customer summit June 18 in Boston, the open source giant will bring along a rather large — and surprising — date: Cisco Systems Inc. Why does Cisco plan to hang out at one of the open source industry’s largest events? The VAR Guy has a few hunches.